Meet Today's Farmer of the Day

Our Hugelkultur

Location: Atmore, AL

Day Job: Finance

Why I'm Getting Dirty: The Wife and I needed something new and very different after 27 years of marriage. We always loved and kept house plants so we thought - why not gardening? Since then, our garden has become refuge providing therapy and welcomed exercise. I've dropped 58 lbs over two years. Plus, I love the tomatoes. So, this is our hugelkultur on 6/22/15 at age 2.5 years, give or take. The foundation is 3" - 4" rotted branches harvested from a neighboring wet, hardwood forest, most with that nice rotted wood feel and smell. Then, various things like a dusting of blood meal, bone meal, Mater Magic, Epsom salt, harvested grass clippings from the yard (no chemicals in 18 years), shredded leaves with leaf mold, lots of compost, hay straw, water, twigs, small branches, and just anything we felt was beneficial. The "hugel" as we call it is approximately 128" to a side and shaped like a square "U." Put your thumbs together and that's the shape. We never use pesticides or anything much stronger than Miracle Grow. Mostly, it's just lots and lots of compost and tea, hand weeding, water from my neighbors well which he has used on his garden for years and years with great results. We are newcomers in our relationship with the Dirt but we love it.

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